Abu Abd Allah al-Mughira ibn Shu'ba ibn Abi Amir ibn Mas'ud al-Thaqafi (); –671), was a prominent companion of Muhammad and was known as one of the four 'shrewds of the Arabs' (duhat al-Arab). He belonged to the tribe of Thaqif of Ta'if, who were part of the early Islamic elite. He served as governor of Kufa, one of the two principal Arab garrisons and administrative centers of Iraq, under Caliph Umar in 642–645. In his old age, al-Mughira was again made governor of Kufa, serving under the Umayyad caliph Mu'awiya I from 661 until his death in 671. During his second governorship, he ruled with virtual independence from the caliph. Life Early life Al-Mughira was the son of Shu'ba ibn Abi Amir and belonged to the Banu Mu'attib clan of the Banu Thaqif tribe of Ta'if. His clan were the traditional protectors of the shrine of al-Lat, one of many Arabian polytheistic deities worshiped in the pre-Islamic period. His uncle was Urwah ibn Mas'ud, a companion of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. Al-Mughira offered his services to the latter in Medina after being exiled from Ta'if for assaulting and robbing his associates in their sleep while they were travelling together. Muhammad and the nascent Muslim community had taken refuge in Medina as a result of their exile from Mecca. Muhammad utilized al-Mughira to persuade the Thaqif to embrace Islam. He participated in the Muslims' attempted pilgrimage to Mecca, which was halted by the Quraysh at Hudaybiyya in April 628. Later, when Ta'if submitted to Muslim rule in 630, al-Mughira was tasked with overseeing the demolition of the al-Lat shrine. Service under the Rashidun caliphs Muhammad died in 632 and leadership of the emergent Muslim state passed to Abu Bakr (), who kept al-Mughira in some administrative capacity. Most high-ranking government posts went to members of the Quraysh, the tribe to which Muhammad and Abu Bakr belonged. At the Battle of Yarmouk in August 636, al-Mughira lost sight in one of his eyes. Caliph Umar () appointed him governor of Basra, a garrison town founded by the Arabs which was used as the springboard for the Muslim conquest of Persia. In the Muslim traditional sources, al-Mughira is variously stated to have married and divorced 300, 700 and 1,000 women. In 642, Umar appointed al-Mughira governor of Kufa, the other Arab garrison town of Iraq. Two years later, a former slave of